Rock ‘n’ Rollercoaster

“Rock ‘n’ Rollercoaster”

Rock ‘n’ Rollercoaster starts out with Guests entering the attraction through the G-Force Records recording studio. After finishing the pre-show, Guests exit through a back alley before entering their limousine in the Lock ‘n’ Roll Parking Garage. On the side of the garage is the door to the LA Down Under Club, where all the hard rockers party.

Although the neon is bright, this shot is more difficult than it would seem because of the extreme differences in contrast between the bright neon and the dark background. This makes metering the shot problematic because if you meter off the neon you would only have the neon and no background and if you meter the background then the neon in the sign blows out. On top of that, a multiple frame HDR isn’t really an option because the downward pointing neon arrows flash and light up in sequence.

For this shot, I metered (more or less) off the lower corner of the backplate of the sign, attempting to find the best tradeoff between background and neon. I then very slightly adjusted the levels and exposure in Lightroom and boosted the color and saturation a tiny bit.

Outside of the pre-show, which presents its own challenges, there are not a whole lot of photo opportunities inside of Rock ‘n’ Rollercoaster. I am really pleased with the way this sign turned out. Please let me know what you think in the comments below.